Nilcilene Miguel de Lima, a small rural producer and local leader from the Amazon region, is under protection of the National Force as she has been receiving constant death threats by land-grabbers and illegal loggers.

In the beginning of February, the Brazilian investigative news agency A Pública [pt] went to the town of Lábrea, in the federal state of Amazonia, to interview her:

The threats began in 2009 when she became the president of the “Deus Proverá” [God Will Provide] association, which was created by small producers in the local settlement to defend them against land invasions and theft of trees. In the following year, after making complaints and petitions against criminals, Nilcilene was beaten and had her house burned in a fire for which she received a warning. In May 2011, she was wrapped in a blanket to outwit and escape from a gunman who was at her front door. The National Force was deployed in October to ensure that she could go back home to keep denouncing problems in the region.

Why do we have to live like that? Someone has to fight, to do something. […] The authorities have to take action. […] So many conflicts because of logging and land. […] If the National Force leaves, my partner and I have to leave before them. If we stay, before being killed, we will be tortured. […] Until today, I keep receiving death threats.

Shot dead for protecting the forest

As well as being one of six people under 24 hour protection of the National Force, Nicelene is among 172 people who have received death threats by gunmen in the Brazilian countryside. According to the Comissão Pastoral da Terra (CPT) [pt], an organization which supports rural rights to land and water, this figure has increased 107% compared to 2010, when 83 people were in the same situation.

Current information shows that, in total, the number of people coping with pressures imposed by outlaws due to land and water conflicts in Brazil increased from 38.555 in 2010 to 45.595 in 2011. There were 32 executions of workers or local leaders from these communities in 2010 and 23 in 2011, as CPT reported.

After the brutal murder of the couple, other killings have hit the headlines as those of Adelino Ramos in the federal state of Rondônia and of Nísion Gomes, an indigenous chief, in the Central-Eastern state of Mato Grosso do Sul. CPT asserts that:

At least eight of the deaths are directly related to [people who] protect the environment. Some others…… two deaths concern quilombolas [members of slave descendent communities in Brazil] and [another] two [deaths concern] indigenous people…… The federal intervention after the first murders was not sufficient to inhibit the action of landgrabbers, landowners and others.

An hour length documentary released by the website Vice (English subtitles) has an indepth analysis of the conflicts. An interview that Maria Espirito Santo gave when alive is included in the video. She commented how she felt to be constantly harassed because of her and her husband's commitment to fight against illegal logging:

There are people who keep saying it not worthy it. To me it is worth it. To me, to my husband it is definitely worth it. I know there's a risk, I have no doubt about that. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid.

Another two victims [pt] have been in the spotlight recently: João Chupel Primo and Junior José Guerra. The former was shot dead October last year and the latter had to leave his community behind last month with his family.

For the sake of growth and Rio +20

Having new perspectives in the changing international scenario, the Brazilian state has acquired new economic and political capabilities using what is known as ‘soft power’. Like any other nation state, it is under pressure to push its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rates up in order to attract investors to buy its sovereign bonds in the international market.

Rise in deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest. The Brazilian Amazon rainforest had 5,850 km sq of its legal area deforested from August 2009 to April 2010, according to INPE- Instituto de Pesquisas Espaciais. Brazil. Photo by Ronie Luis Leite copyright Demotix (July 2007)

For Assuntos Produtos da Mente [pt] the export-oriented production in Brazil “is undergoing a process of reprimarization of the economy based on the production and export of agricultural and non agricultural commodities (mining), which is unable to fund and promote sustainable development and solidarity and meet the needs of the Brazilian people.”

The reform of the Brazilian Forestry Code; as it has been processed in the Congress, under the influence of lobby of some sectors; means the deregulation of the agribusiness sector putting at serious risks the environment and the agricultural production itself. The protection of natural areas would be considerably reduced, and hence, a great opportunity to produce food in a more sustainable and efficient way would be missed; what should be the great asset of Brazilian agriculture.

The Brazilian Congress was expected to vote it this week, however a request for postponement is eventually going to delay it. President Dilma wants the new rules to be approved before the United Nations conference, Rio+20.

Next June, Rio+20 will bring together heads of states in Brazil to discuss how sustainable development can come together with the preservation of the environment and social inclusion. In an interview to the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), the journalist Eliane Brum said:

Brazil will host Rio+20 and on its territory is located the world’s biggest rain forest. And part of this forest is dominated by organized crime. And part of it is stained by the blood of Brazilians who have fought for it without any support of the State and have died for it having said – on video – that they were going to die. On part of this forest, ipê and other precious woods are being robbed in conservation unities and part of this wood comes out legalized from Brazilian ports towards Europe. If that’s not a reason for embarrassment when hosting a conference on environment, then the world is even more cynical than I suspected.

As much as poor and emerging countries depend on growth to correct their social liabilities, the issue of development involves much more in quality of services available to the population and creating opportunities in equilibrium with the environment, than in increasing the rate of GDP. Especially as GDP is an extremely poor measure as it registers everything from wars to traffic accidents as economic growth.

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[…] complaints of land invasions and tree thefts, Nilcilene was beaten and her house was burned. In a Global Voices post from March 2012, the link between deaths and the agrarian economy in the country was […]